CBI-RAJIV

The CBI had been on KP's trail for over a decade and its
team had travelled to New Zealand in 2002. The agency
questioned three Tamil nationals there after securing
permission from authorities in that country.

The term of MDMA, which is headed by a CBI official and
comprises officers from IB, RAW and Revenue Intelligence,
ended on May 31 this year and was given a post-facto approval.

The Jain Commission, which went into Gandhi's killing,
had come across various leads which included bank transactions
of the LTTE's frontal outfits before and after the
assassination and on movement of arms meant for LTTE during
that period.

The MDMA has also been focusing on bank details of
Padmanathan. India has taken up the matter with Germany to get
the bank details of KP, who is alleged to be a major
gun-runner for the terrorist group.

The investigators want to know the bank details of KP and
some more people, including some Indians who were alleged
to have hatched the conspiracy to kill Gandhi.

The former Prime Minister was assassinated on May 21,
1991 when an LTTE suicide bomber blew herself up at an
election rally in Tamil Nadu. KP is believed to be 'the chief
arms procurer' for the LTTE and also in-charge of collection
of finances for the banned outfit outside Sri Lanka.

The CBI had approached nearly 23 countries with letters
rogatory for Padmanathan along with its findings against the
terrorist leader. PTI